This vibrant collection of essays claims that a complex network of texts by critics, biographers and diarists established the credibility and influence of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Throughout the twentieth century, Modernist taste failed to acknowledge the achievement of oppositional groupings such as the Pre-Raphaelites. The essays collected here, however, reveal that the British group anticipated later avant-gardes by using the written word to configure for itself a radical artistic identity. Public and critics alike were scandalized by the radicalism of Pre-Raphaelite painting, its unflinching portrayal of historical figures and of contemporary life, and its irreverent attitude to artistic convention. Pre-Raphaelitism's innovations were not confined to style: new forms of artistic identity and behaviour were explored. As the contributors interrogate the texts through which Pre-Raphaelitism was constructed, they demonstrate that the movement's wide influence as a cultural phenomenon derived from the interplay between exhibited works and critical discourse. Applying a range of sophisticated methodologies from the fields of literary studies, art history, and cultural studies, these interdisciplinary essays uncover the neglected role of texts in the success of the Pre-Raphaelite rebellion and argue in favor of a new centrality for this movement in the history of nineteenth-century European culture.
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
ISBN: 9780754657170
Number of pages: 276
Weight: 453 g
Dimensions: 234 x 156 mm
' ... a highly sophisticated, inventive, scholarly, and desirable collection of essays... With an international line-up of this calibre this book will become de rigeur for anybody working in the field, anybody interested in the Pre-Raphaelites, and anybody interested in the idea of the avant garde in the nineteenth century.' Barrie Bullen, University of Reading, UK ’This collection of essays strikes a rarely achieved interpretive balance between Pre-Raphaelite textual and visual production and critical and historical consumption...The essays offer fresh insights...Recommended.’ Choice '... an exciting new book on Pre-Raphaelitism...' Cahiers victoriens et édouardiens 'The complexities and complicities of art historical practice, both frustrating and enriching, which the contributors have identified in engaging with the Pre-Raphaelite legacy, mark a widening of the scholarship area to include not only the work of art and the artist, but also the networks of production, reception and consumption - which constitutes the collection’s greatest merit.' Pre-Raphaelite Review
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